Now that he's back from his presidential run, Gov. Rick Perry has some fences to mend in Texas. Publicly, Perry’s supporters say no bridges have been burned, with the business community, the Tea Party or his own state-based staff. But privately, some of Perry’s closest allies say he's got some relationships to repair — and that he's started doing it.

After an awful fifth-place showing in Iowa and top aides telling him he should consider pulling out of the presidential race, the specter of a first defeat has come into focus for Gov. Rick Perry. Here's the problem: He does not really know how to lose.

Rep. Senfronia Thompson’s almost 40-year House tenure is defined by her impassioned and effective defense of the underserved. But her legislative career is peppered with occasional paradoxes, from the campaign contributions she's received from strip club operators to the industry-friendly bills she has carried for energy giants.

Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, during her filibuster at the end of the the 82nd legislature on Sunday, June 3, 2011. The action, in opposition to $4 billion in cuts to education, tipped lawmakers into an immediate special session.

Sen. Wendy Davis' controversial decision to torpedo the legislative session with a filibuster has catapulted the Fort Worth Democrat into the spotlight. She's seized it to try to mobilize outnumbered Democrats and to take jabs a Gov. Rick Perry’s rumored presidential aspirations.

When Ellen Cohen decided, two months after losing re-election to her state House seat, to run for Houston City Council, a friend worried, “Isn’t that a step down?” Cohen’s answer? “No, it’s a step closer.” Running for city council “is on a different scale, sure," Cohen said, "but the immediacy of being able to do something in the city you chose to move to is really appealing.”

HillCo's lawsuit against two of its departing partners is threatening business as usual in the insular world of the Texas lobby, raising the specter of open combat in an industry that prefers to settle its fights behind closed doors. But as its allegations make plain, HillCo believes that two rogue employees are the ones who crossed the line, turning competition for clients into espionage and biting down hard on the hand that fed them.